Common Core rollback defeated but not dead

Feb. 18, 2014

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It’s too late to turn back from the Common Core State Standards, a legislative panel said Tuesday in defeating one of several bills that take aim at the controversial education standards.

Sen. Phil Jensen, R-Rapid City, the prime sponsor of SB129, said he’s concerned about a lack of evidence that the Common Core will be good for K-12 education. He proposed that South Dakota educators write new standards to replace the Common Core, and that the state examine the costs of corresponding new tests.

“The issue of Common Core has certainly been controversial. This bill is an attempt to put the brakes on a program that so many parents and teachers feel is unnecessary, and they really have a problem with South Dakota students being guinea pigs,” Jensen told lawmakers.

The Senate Education Committee voted 5-2 to kill the bill.

Lawmakers opposed to the bill said changes should be made on a local level, and the standards aren’t necessarily the problem.

“I don’t think the yardstick is the problem. I really believe it will be tweaked and improved as we move along,” said Sen. Bruce Rampelberg, R-Rapid City.

Others said they were concerned about making drastic changes now, as the Common Core have been in place since last fall.

“We’ve come down this road too far now to turn it around,” said Sen. Ryan Maher, R-Isabel. “I’m not totally sold on it (Common Core) either, but I don’t know by passing 129 we really solve anything, either.”

The South Dakota Board of Education in 2010 held a public hearing and adopted Common Core, which provides a framework for what students should know and be able to do in each grade. The Legislature authorized $8 million over two years to train teachers on the standards, which continue to draw intense debate among parents and lawmakers.

A handful of bills that would study the Common Core standards and its effects still are alive in the Legislature. HB1243, which also would supplant the Common Core standards and has much of the same language as SB129, has its first hearing before the House Education Committee at 7:45 this morning.